Diversity Abroad and Global Semesters Announce New Partnership

The University of Nicosia Global Semesters is delighted to launch its partnership with Diversity Abroad and we look forward to creating additional opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to experience education abroad.

Global Semesters has a long history of supporting diversity, beginning with our support of Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) in 2006. Our institution has championed diversity ever since and has developed academic programs, as well as institutional relationships that have allowed increasing numbers of ethnically diverse students to experience education abroad.

In the 2014 calendar year, 28% of our participants identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Hispanic or Native American/Alaskan Native ethnicities. As an institution, we have strived to offer high value, but affordable international education programs, which have produced a 16% increase in participation among students from diverse ethnicities since 2010, which is illustrated in the chart below:

According to the International Education (IIE) Open Doors Survey of 2011-12, only 5.3% of U.S. study abroad participants were of Black/African American ethnicity. “This achievement in diversity participation exceeds the latest IIE Open Doors Survey of Black/African American students by 9%,” said DiMauro.

Global Semesters has achieved these results through strong institutional partnerships with academic institutions that champion education abroad, including several Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBCUs), including Xavier University of Louisiana and Virginia State University.

“Global Semesters programs offer an extensive variety of academic programs and courses. More than 70% of our students plan to enter a health or medical field when they graduate and Global Semesters' selection of STEM programming is unparalleled. Their summer pre-med program in Cyprus is simply incredible”, stated Torian L. Lee, Senior International Officer at Xavier University of Louisiana.

“The greatest challenges our students face are financial”, stated Badiyyah Waajid, Study Abroad Coordinator at Virginia State University “The University of Nicosia Global Semesters programs are extremely affordable compared with other study abroad opportunities, so they allow more of our students to participate. The Cyprus programs in particular are an excellent value, with semester program fees less than $8,000”, said Waajid.

In an effort to continue our expansion of international education diversity in 2015, we are delighted to partner with Diversity Abroad. We plan to launch several initiatives in the coming months and look forward to working with members of the Diversity Network to increase study abroad opportunities and funding for students from ethnically diverse backgrounds.